Many quick service restaurants will sell food products for some time after those food products have been prepared. For example, hamburgers may be available for sale up to twenty minutes after being cooked. Food products that are excessively aged become "perished" (e.g. stale or soggy). Selling such perished food products would hurt the reputation of the restaurant. Furthermore, aged food products can pose a significant health risk to consumers, which in turn would impose liability on the restaurant. Accordingly, if the food product is not sold within a certain time period after being prepared it is typically thrown away. This waste is considered a cost of doing business.
Once a food product has been assembled from food components, there is a limited time period within which the food product may be sold. For example, an assembled hamburger may be discarded after twenty minutes. Assembled food products are typically maintained in a warming bin or similar warming apparatus while they await sale, as are other food products that are ready to sell yet require no assembly.
Food products and food components are often discarded at considerable cost to the restaurant. It would be advantageous to reduce the costs associated with the inability to sell perished food products.